Fractured Reality
by Vindicated Irony
Summary: When one knows what they do not need to know and have no right to know a great weight seems to press down on them; Or maybe that's just the force of the person that they replaced within the body they stole trying to break free. Either way, Iori's mind was a mess and left her viewing the world in what she considered a fractured reality.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**= I / O / R / I =**

There's a fine line between fantasy and reality; what you believe to be true, and what is in actuality true. Some people understand this better than others. Some people even experience the crossing of that line, and those people would tell you that it was not a world of fantasy on the other side.

It was real. It was real and horrifying and they just want to go home more than anything. But they can't, they can't cross back over because on one side they're dead. That was the price those people paid in order to cross that fine line. They lost one reality to gain another. And not only did they gain a new reality, they gained a new life. What they do with that life is up to them. They could sit on the sidelines or forge their way to the front lines. Sometimes though, sometimes they _didn't_ get a say in what they did with their new life. They had options laid out in front of them. Options that they had a say in but that ultimately led to the same final result.

Maybe not to an extreme, but the options were still restricting in the most horrible of ways sometimes.

You didn't want to grow up to be _that_? Well, too bad.

You _want_ to live a normal, innocent life? Not happening.

You don't want to be _used_ to do horrible things? Looks like you're shit outa luck.

At least, I know I was.

That's what sucks about falling into an alternate reality. Or being reincarnated. Whatever it is that applies to your circumstance. Most of the time you get screwed over, get over it, and then get screwed over _again_. Or maybe that's just me. I always did have the worst of luck.

You know what the best part is?

It's when everything you _think_ you know about where you are is all ripped to shreds and leaves you flat on your ass like someone pulled the carpet from under your feet.

Because, you know where I am?

I'm in _Naruto_. But I'm not in Konoha, or Suna, or even Ame; oh no. The village I'm in isn't even really supposed to exist. Yukigakure, as far as I knew, wasn't originally in the _Naruto_ world. There were Land of Snow shinobi in one of the movies, but then that land became the Land of Spring.

But there were ninja here; their headbands had a cloud shape carved in them, probably to represent the constant presence of snow clouds.

But that's not the best part, oh no. You know what it is? Do you want to take a crack at it? No?

I'm a _jinchuriki_. I could feel this dark, powerful chakra swirling around inside of me. And the glares and general hatred of my presence was a pretty good indicator as to what I was. I just didn't understand how. All the tailed beasts, aside from Isobu, had holders already. What did that mean for me? This village?

What the ever loving _fuck_ has my death in my previous reality got me into?

Was this some parallel universe? A wacked up, demon chakra induced hallucination?

This was a place where I didn't know what the hell was going to happen. Where I had to fight. Where I might just very well die a premature death. Where I was a fucking _jinchuriki_.

**= I / O / R / I =**

I had decided when I was still just a baby that I wouldn't attract any more attention to myself. There was no reason for me to cause more fear by talking, walking, and just plain learning faster than normal. I already had enough general dislike if not hatred aimed at me for being _what_ I was. But I think that I might have unsettled them even more with how quiet I was. Having my red eyes watching them as they passed by probably wasn't very comforting either.

That was something else I seemed to have ran out of luck in too; genetics. My eyes, as mentioned, are red. A darker, garnet like red. And my hair, dear _Kami-sama_, my hair was a dark yet bright pink. To top it off I had skin so pale it was almost white. They even put me in white clothes for the most part. White shoes, white shorts, a sleeveless and skin tight cotton-candy pink turtleneck top, white gloves, and a garnet-red scarf. Every bit of skin on my arms and legs that weren't covered with clothes were wrapped in dark red bandages with an overlay of fishnet. Even my headband was the same dark red and wrapped firmly around my left thigh.

I felt like an overly-matched doll. But even if I was an overly-matched doll, I was still a shinobi now. And a jinchuriki; a weapon. Really, I don't know how Naruto managed to make friends. When I tried a kid wet his pants and the others ran away, but all of them knew I was a jinchuriki. None of the kids in Konoha knew about Naruto.

"Iori-san," a snow village equivalent to an ANBU materialized in the doorway, "you need to move on for team assignments or you'll be late."

"Alright, alright Wolf-ya," I had to give him credit, he didn't twitch at my nickname for him like he used to. I suppose he was used to it by now. "Will you be accompanying me, Wolf-ya? No? Too bad."

**= I / O / R / I =**

In the academy I was given a wide girth. Unless they were ordered to, no one sat near me, so there was always at least one seat between anyone and myself. If I wasn't mentally in my twenties that might have hurt, heck, it still hurt. But I was old enough to know not to dwell on it and make the best of a bad situation. And honestly, I felt bad for whoever got assigned with me because they'd probably be made into lepers too.

"Alright everyone," our sensei cleared his throat up front, "This first team is Team One. You'll leave to meet your sensei in room thirty.

"Matsuoka Eien, Ishimori Yashiro," to sensei's credit, his jaw only tensed for a second, "and Ono Iori."

There were quiet murmurs of relief and sympathy from the others in the class and the two boys stood, though I couldn't see their faces from where I was. My chair screeched purposefully across the floor and the classroom became silent again as I walked across the room and out the door, my footsteps echoing loudly behind me. I heard the reluctant steps of my new teammates following after me and the click of the door as it shut behind them.

"Mah, I wonder what jounin they stuck with me," their footsteps faltered a bit before stopping just inside of room thirty's door, "Or maybe I'll get Wolf."

"W-wolf…?"

The long braid of pink hair that flowed down my back snapped through the air and my bangs brushed my forehead and cheeks as I spun around, a big smile on my face, "So glad you asked!"

The boy tensed – it was Yashiro, I think – and bumped lightly into a seemingly impassive Eien.

"He's one of the elite guards that usually follows me around," I chirped, "I think his real code name is White, but that's too boring."

"The elite guards aren't meant to be interesting or entertaining, Iori-san," a deep voice called from the window, a muscled man with dark hair and blue eyes sitting on the sill.

My grin was a frown in a second, "You? They gave me _you_?"

Aoyama Ryotaro was my caretaker for all intents and purposes. I'm fairly certain he's a seal master as well, so it's likely he was the one – or apprenticed to the one – that had sealed Toriyuki in me.

'**My name isn't Toriyuki, Iori-ri.'**

"Hush, Snowbird-ya," my nose crinkled and the other three glanced over at me.

'**Iori-ri, why must you give such silly nicknames?'**

"They're not silly, they're plenty creative," now all three of them were staring as I conversed with my demon.

"Iori-san, everything alright?" Aoyama questioned lightly, knowing very well I wasn't talking to any of them.

I sniffed, "I wasn't taking to _you_. I was talking to Snowbird-ya."

The two boys exchanged a confused look and looked up at our new sensei who just smirked. Without another work he stalked out of the room, motioning for us to follow with a flick of his wrist.

"Alright, sit down," he motioned to a sheltered bench on the roof as he leaned on a pole, "Time for introductions. We'll be stuck together for a long while."

"Maybe Ao-ya should go first," the boys looked appalled at my improper use of sensei's name, but Aoyama was still impassive.

"Fine, if that's what Iori-san wants," it pissed me off how poker-faced this man was, "I'm Aoyama Ryotaro. I like fruit among other things and I dislike a lot of things."

The frown remained on my face as he motioned to me, a lackadaisical smile on his scarred face.

"Ono Iori. I like my meat rare and tracking. My dislikes include pungent smells and," my smile was halfhearted, "my parents."

Honestly, as a mentally twenty-something woman I shouldn't let the fact that my parents volunteered me for this life get to me as much as I did; but by sealing said demon inside me they had in a way ruined my life. A life that shouldn't be mine, a life plagued by my knowledge of this world.

He gave me a placating smile as he motioned to the boy with thick red hair and cinnamon-toned eyes.

"Matsuoka Eien. No nicknames, just Eien."

Oh, was that so? We'd see about that.

The boy continued on, "I like using fire style jutsu and kenjutsu. I dislike idiots and loudmouths."

Oh? Was that last bit directed at me? What a brave boy he was, calling out Yukigakure's demon like that. Not like I'd do anything to him for it anyways; though if I wasn't twenty-something he'd probably be gone because of some childish rage.

'**Iori-ri should try and make friends, she might actually be happy then.'**

"And Snowbird-ya should mind her own business."

My teammates looked at me again, not used to my conversations with Snowbird. They'd get used to it eventually; if they survived that long anyways.

The last boy stood, his white-blond hair laced with snow and his icy-eyes flickering, "Um, I'm Ishimori Yashiro and I, um, like dango, birds (I snorted at this, startling the poor boy), and taijutsu. I don't dislike many things, and, uh, that's about it."

Aoyama clapped his hands together with a smirk, "Well, I suppose that's it for today then. Feel free to eat lunch together, foster your bonds. We'll meet in training area six at six."

With a burst of chakra and a swirl of cold wind he was gone.

"Mmm, I understand if Cinna-boy and Yashi-yan don't want to join me for lunch." Eien twitched at the name and Yashiro fidgeted. An odd pressure filled my head for a moment as I continued on, "Iori will see you tomorrow then!"

Another surge of chakra and I too was gone.

**= I / O / R / I =**

My parents were living a rather cushy life thanks to their 'sacrifice for the betterment of the village' when they gave me up so I could be Snowbird's host. Of course I had somewhat nice accommodations because of that as well, though I was more of a decoration and obligation to my parents rather than their flesh and blood. As far as they were concerned, as long as I was a jinchuriki I was worth keeping around – at a distance, that is.

I really did try to keep an open mind and think logically about things, but as time went by the more strain my mind put on me to just let go of my memories from my past life. For the most part I didn't _want_ to let go; I wanted to know when the bad things were coming. I wanted to remember that one day _I'd_ be in danger.

'**I think you should let it go, Iori-ri. You get too distracted by those memories.'**

"I might _change_ Snowbird-ya," I frowned, "If I don't remember I might change into something I don't want to be."

'**Those memories might get you killed one day. I will remember what is important Iori-ri.'**

The jingling of senbon rang in the room as I filled my pouch, considering Snowbird's proposition. She hadn't led me astray so far in these last twelve years; in fact, she'd helped me out a lot. She was more of a mother to me than my own mother.

'**Iori-ri?'**

"I don't know that you'd be able to stop a personality change," I jerked my hand back after pricking it on a senbon, "I don't want to become a monster, Snowbird-ya."

'**You won't know if you don't try.'**

My eyelids drooped as I watched the blood trickle down my finger and the wound closed up, "But if I try, I can't come back."

With a quick swipe the blood was smeared across my parent's couch. My mind wavered as I looked at the now stained upholstery.

"Iori doesn't want to lose herself completely."

'**I understand Iori-ri.'**

**= I / O / R / I =**

**What am I even doing? And** why do I do this to myself? Starting ANOTHER story… I don't even = 3=

I like writing Iori though. And I do actually know where I'm going with this story, unless I change my mind. But whatever. I actually started on this, like, four months ago? I get so inspired working on other stories that sometimes it spills over and I write something new.

This is one of those spill overs.


	2. Chapter 2

**= I / O / R / I =**

_**CHAPTER 2**_

**= I / O / R / I =**

What was real didn't seem too real sometimes. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but I just didn't feel like myself anymore. If I had to say something about it, it would be that the person I'm _supposed_ to be is trying to push back who I _am_.

That is, who I am now is thanks to the memories I have from my past life and of the world I'm in now. This other me was who I would be if I had grown up without the memories I have. And quite frankly I don't know how this other me would act; if she – I – would be a monster of some kind. She – me two-point-oh – sometimes broke free, referring to herself – me, us – in third person. Me two-point-oh was even more childish than I was as is from what I can tell.

It didn't help that I went into hysterics upon realizing where I thought I was wasn't where I was at all. I was in the Naruto world, yes. Was I in the main Naruto timeline? My sudden hysterical laughter once I heard the most recent news was a clear answer to that. I was somewhere in between Naruto and the _Shippuden _timeline. You know how I knew that?

Sabaku no Gaara had just been named kazekage.

It was never specifically said when this had happened in the manga nor the anime, so for all I knew it was only shortly after Sasuke's defection. Or it could have been a whole year after Naruto and Jiraya's exit from the village for their training sojourn.

'**Iori-ri, why are you worrying so much about this?'**

"Because, Snowbird-ya," I breathed, my fist clenching and unclenching around the handle of my kunai, "In a year or two we'll be thrust into _war_." That was, if our village got involved. Considering we had a jinchuriki – namely me – it seemed inevitable. "Say, Snowbird-ya, how many tails do you have?"

The demon's chakra stirred slightly inside of me in what seemed to be confusion and then realization, **'Seven, Iori-ri.'**

My lips parted and a frozen cloud of air escaped past my lips. Considering it would be a while before they even reached Gaara, I had a year and a half, maybe two, before I truly had to worry about the Akatsuki. That is, if they stuck to numerical order.

Suddenly it was all too much and a painful twinge rocketed through my head. A hysterical giggle tinged with insanity started out as a wheeze before raising steadily in volume, the corners of my lips curled up too far for my liking.

'**Iori-ri, you must keep in control.'**

"Iori is _fine_, just fine," in the back of my head I was screaming, trying to push down the intense force that was the other me, "Iori just wants to see a pretty _red_."

A hand I couldn't quite control reached up and ran down the side of my face, pulling down on the corner of my eye and mouth as it went. The intense twinge of pain in my head started easing up before fading completely, leaving me unsettled but in control.

**= I / O / R / I =**

Eien face was stoic as he leaded against a tree several feet away from where I myself had plopped down in the snow. Yashiro was a nervous, fidgeting mess next to him, trying his best not to look my way. I threw myself back with a groan, severely startling the latter and only garnering a look from the former.

"Snow angels are paradoxes, neh?" The words tumbled past my lips without any attempt on my part to stop them, "They are named after something so holy, but are made with something cold and unforgiving."

"Snow is seen as pure," Eien stated blandly, not even looking my way.

I looked at him before turning my gaze out to the white blanketed landscape, my eyes hooded. My mind wavered and it seemed the snow did as well, a decent bit of it swirling to form a set of piercing eyes. They were piercing and not very happy and my breathing quickened slightly as I continued the stare down.

"Pure? Iori sees evil in the snow," my stream of consciousness that tried to pull me back to a normal sense of reality was lost in a garble of white noise, "The snow is as pure as Iori is."

"It must be pretty damn pure then," my lip curled into a snarl at the sarcastic voice of our sensei, "Now, now, don't give me that look."

"Iori can give you any look she wants."

'**Iori-ri, you must push back. This isn't you.'**

Aoyama shot me sarcastic look of reassurance and the wavering in my head seemed to make my temples throb. I felt words build up in my stomach, ready to spew out so I did what I could while being forced back by the fog in my head.

Red trickled down my chin and dripped into the snow as my teeth bit into my lip, sufficiently bringing me back into control. Yashiro looked significantly freaked out and like he was about to wet him pants at my sudden action of self-harm, Eien just gave me a hard, incredulous look, and Aoyama just smirked tauntingly down at me. My eyes centered on Aoyama's as my hand reached up to wipe away the blood and my tongue flicked out to clean the rest off my lip and then my fingers.

"Sorry, it seems Ao-ya's voice makes me want to hurt myself," my eyes remained hooded as I stared up at the man, "Ao-ya should just become a mute for my own safety."

"Then who would bestow you brats with wisdom?" The man turned away from us and my hand twitched at my side, the remaining blood smearing on my clothes.

'**Iori-ri should control herself around this man.'**

"It's hard, Snowbird-ya." My lips barely moved as I murmured my response, thus earning me no looks as I spoke back to my demon.

'**It's what he wants, Iori-ri.'**

"I _know_."

"Oh, you do, do you?" Aoyama's voice was mocking as he smirked down at me, "Then maybe Iori-san should lead this mission."

My responding frown was severe, "I wasn't talking to you, Ao-ya. Stop eavesdropping." The frown on my face morphed into a smirk of sorts, "But I'll be glad to lead whatever this silly mission is. Better me than you."

"Sensei, are you sure about that?" My eyes snapped to Eien's face, "This is our first mission, besides…"

"What is it, Cinna-boy?" The cinnamon-eyed boy's jaw tensed as I cut him off, "Do you think you should lead the mission?"

Before he could reply our oh-so-very esteemed sensei (please do not my sarcasm) interrupted, "Neither of you brats are leading the mission. I am."

With that my frown returned full force, though it wasn't like I could say it was unexpected. He was a jounin and we were newly graduated genin. Not that that meant I'd make this _easy_ on the man.

'**Iori-ri, what has he even done to you? He wasn't the one that did the sealing.'**

"That doesn't matter, Snowbird-ya," my voice was low as I followed Aoyama, just a few steps behind my two teammates, "He's in charge now."

"So glad you admit that, Iori-san," came the smooth reply of the snow jounin.

"Did I not tell you," I snapped, "that eavesdropping is rude."

The dark haired man just smirked and kept walking, taking us beyond the village boundaries before stopping. My eyes narrowed at this; we were a newly formed team, and what newly formed team took missions outside of the village. Even if they did have a jinchuriki with them.

Not that that necessarily made them any safer by any means.

"Um, sensei?" Yashiro spoke up for the first time, "Why are we out of the village? We're just a newly formed team."

"You three are more experienced than normal newly formed teams." Aoyama replied flippantly, "You were held back from graduating last year to get more experience. It's as simple as that."

Eien grunted, his dark red hair mussed up from the blowing wind, "Are you saying we were specifically picked to be on _this_ team?"

"What he means is," I broke in, looking up blankly through my lashes, "they were picked to by on _my_ team, weren't they?" My lips upturned in a cynical smile, "Picked to be the ones stuck with Yukigakure's jinchuriki."

As per usual, Yashiro cringed and to my surprise (and delight) Eien even flinched slightly in response to my statement. Aoyama's blue eyes stared down into my red ones, my small smile still in place and what I was sure was a strange gleam in my eyes.

'**Iori-ri shouldn't be so happy people are uncomfortable.'**

A light 'tsk' was my only response.

'**With your mental age, you should know better.'**

Once again I gave her no response.

"In short: Yes." Aoyama's face remained impassive, "Given Yashiro and Eien's skill sets they were deemed the best options to be on the team of our _esteemed_ jinchuriki.

"Now, now," the man continued after seeing the reactions of the two boys, "you two should take that as a compliment. It means you both have the potential to be strong; that you're survivors."

A hum echoes from my throat as I glanced over at the boys. I had figured they'd been handpicked, but I hadn't thought it was because they could later be some of the stronger shinobi in the village. I had thought it was the village's way of throwing away some of the new genin that didn't show potential. Kids they wouldn't care about losing if I had some sort of bitch fit.

"Enough of that," Aoyama clapped, "We're going to the Ice Shrine to pick up a package for the Yukikage."

Eien frowned, his eyebrows furrowing, "Doesn't that trip usually last two days there and back? Not to mention they don't have spare rooms for travelers; snow shinobi or not."

Aoyama's grin was on the verge of being feral, "We're learning how to rough it."

Yashiro's already pale skin blanched almost paper white and Eien's fists clenched at his sides. My small smile was still in place, though the look in my eyes was mocking as I looked over at the two, "And you both thought _I_ was the monster."

**= I / O / R / I =**

**I know that** **in the** Clash in the Land of Snow movie that the Land of Snow only has snow during winter at the end, but I have a bit of a solution for that. That being the village's location. I will expand on this in the future.


	3. Chapter 3

**= I / O / R / I =**

"_It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,__  
__Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt,__  
__It lies behind stars and under hills,__  
__And empty holes it fills,__  
__It comes first and follows after,__  
__Ends life, kills laughter."_  
**― ****J.R.R. Tolkien****, **_**The Hobbit**_

**= I / O / R / I =**

The sparse amount of monks at the Ice shine seemed less than thrilled to see me and thus offered me disparaging looks and sometimes glares. My response was a wide, lopsided smirk and narrowed eyes. Their response to that was always either a satisfying shiver of disgust or cringe of something akin to fear.

"Quit creeping out the monks Iori-san," Aoyama not to gently thumped the back of my head, "why don't you wait at the front gate like a good, obedient student."

A snarl rolled past my lips and I felt the snow under my feet quiver, "Why don't you go jump in a lake. I rather think you could do with losing a few fingers or toes; maybe even a full limb if we're lucky."

A placating smile found its way to the man's face as he stared back down at me, his eyes filled with harsh amusement. Then he turned away as flapped a dismissive hand in my face before walking off, a certain cocky swagger in his step.

'**You make him happy when you respond as you do, Iori-ri.'**

"I _know_, but he'd be satisfied if I didn't respond," a young monk in training stumbled out of my way as I stalked down the path through the buildings, "Besides, if I hold it in then _she_ gets antsier than usual."

'**I can help you –'**

"No, you can't," my tone was waspish, so much so that one man I passed by flinched as if he'd been stung, "You talk pretty, Snowbird-ya, but you're a demon. Not exactly the most trustworthy of creatures. Besides, you've done nothing to stop _her_ before."

The monstrous chakra bird in my stomach silenced at that, but not without sending out a vibe that let me know she was rather annoyed. I scoffed before effortlessly scaling a snow-covered tree near the front gates, the whole shrine area as well as a great bit of land beyond the walls now within my view.

"Such an ugly, ugly color," my eyelids drooped down to hood my eyes as they roved over the white landscape before drifting to look at the gates where my two so-called teammates were loyally standing, "Like dogs, they just sit and obey."

A spark of chakra a short distance away caught my attention and my eyes locked onto what seemed to be a moving patch of snow heading for the gates at an angle. _'Enemies, perhaps?'_ My eyes flitted back to the gate, _'oblivious idiots…oh, no, seems Yashi-yan has noticed something.'_

After alerting the red haired member of their team, both boys were alert and had kunai drawn. Which was, in my opinion, not a tactically smart move. Silently coming up with some sort of plan would have been better than letting the enemy know you knew about them.

Suddenly, in what seemed like a second in time, the intruders were on the two boys. First it was Yashiro that was harshly knocked back, and then Eien who coughed up a bit of blood. Something in me begged to be let loose and something else implored me to help them.

'**Do you really want to see them die, Iori-ri?'**

My still hooded eyes didn't leave the standoff at the gates, "Even if I intervene it's highly likely othe others will end them as I end one of them."

'**Not if you use the snow.'**

The fingers of my left hand twitched, "What?"

'**Like that Gaara boy from your memories. You can use the snow like he uses his sand.'**

My lips pursed, thinking back to when the snow had quivered under my feet earlier. "You couldn't have told me this earlier?" I didn't wait for a response before jumping and focusing my mind and chakra on the snow below, managing to pull it up to cushion my landing.

It was strange feeling the snow below me quiver and come alive with the use of (a lot of) my chakra, and a lot of Snowbird's as well. A curse nearly broke past my lips as my head wavered and my consciousness was pushed back by _her_.

"Iori wants to see the pretty, pretty red," I could still feel my lips curl into a cruel smile as I screamed at the back of my mind.

With a flick and thrust of my arm as my body dashed towards the scene, an enormous amount of writhing snow shadowing and engulfing the men and frightening my teammates. My body came to a stop barely a yard away from Eien, and though I couldn't see his face I knew his eyes were hard with fear.

A high pitch giggle burst forth through my lips as my arm swished to the side, pulling the snow from the bodies of the men. They were scattered about, their skin tinged blue and the snow around them soaked in crimson. The following voice that left my mouth was an unnatural, child-like tinkling sound, "Such a pretty, _pretty_, _**pretty**_ red."

"I-I..u-um…Io-ori-san..?" Suddenly, Yashiro's pale face was within my line of sight and the sight of crazed red eyes that reflected back at me made my want and need to take control all the stronger.

"Does Yashi-yan not like the pretty red that Iori made?" The pale, blonde boy cringed, "Or doe –"

A small pulse of deep navy chakra and a groan cut off whatever _she_ had been about to say. Yashiro had fell back on his butt upon being hit with the demonic chakra and even Eien had stumbled back a few steps.

The deep rumbling chuckle that came from the side caused an angry twitch to invade my left arm and my eyes to narrow again as they met Aoyama's amused ones.

"Our dear, precious jinchuriki got a little messy, no?" His tone was blasé as he sauntered over to survey the mess, "I suppose it doesn't matter."

Without even bothering to properly deal with the mess that bastard Aoyama told us to move on and that we'd set up camp when it got closer to nighttime.

**= I / O / R / I =**

"Set up your camp," Aoyama waved us off as he busied himself with his own set up, leaving Eien and Yashiro to exchange a somewhat bewildered look.

A ball of snow that I'd been messing with since our departure warped and twisted in my hands as the two mumbled angrily. It really was an inconvenient place, but our land could be finicky when it came to finding a good covered area. At least that's the way it's been since after the Land of Snow became one of spring and destroyed most of the snow that we relied on for the most part.

Our humble village was in a little nook between two mountain peaks, a place not even that chakra induced spring could reach. It was still an inconvenience though as our snow ninjutsu were useless without, well, snow.

Eien shot me a dirty look as the two of them worked to set up camp; I assumed it was because I was doing nothing to help. Silly boy.

I shot him a smug look as I turned to focus my chakra before stamping a foot on the ground. A mound of snow puffed up and a small tunnel crawlspace formed; my own personal igloo. Yashiro's jaw seemed to come slightly unhinged and Eien's eyes just narrowed.

"Has our dear Iori-san made is shelter?" The annoying drawl of Aoyama's voice tugged the corners of my lips back into a frown.

"It's not meant for you," my nose scrunched in distaste, "Why don't you work on my earlier suggestion and lose some appendages."

He clicked his tongue, his eyes never losing the glint of amusement within, "So you want us all to freeze? How cruel Iori-san."

My garnet eyes flickered over my teammates, "I care not if they use my igloo, I like them much more than I like _you_."

With that I left two somewhat surprised boys and an amused bastard out in the snow, enjoying the surprisingly warmer insides of my igloo.

The movement of my team outside was somewhat muffled, anything they might have been saying to fuzzy to understand. My eyes focused in the snowy igloo walls, it was odd as the walls were not ice. It seemed I couldn't, despite the intriguing possibilities, turn snow into solid ice. The thought of Gaara and his gourd came up, which could be the gateway to many possibilities as well.

'**You cannot carry the snow around, Iori-ri. Even with my chakra it would melt away in hot climates.'**

"What?" My lips curled distastefully, "That's hardly fair!"

'**Life is hardly fair, Iori-ri.'**

My fist slammed into the ground next to me, "So useless! The only other place I've seen snow in is Kiri, and I don't ever plan on going there."

'**Continue learning as you were before I told you about your ability over snow.'**

"I was planning to," the waspish tone from earlier today was back and Snowbird's chakra seemed to pulsate in exasperation. The roiling annoyance and anger in my head cause the unwanted pressure to rise, "Iori refuses to go down without a fight."

There was a silent pause as Snowbird's chakra fluttered to my head, trying to tame the anger, **'You mean against those cloaked men?'**

"Who else would Ior – _I_ – mean?"

Before Snowbird could answer that bastard Aoyama's voice floated through a crack in the door, "You might want to reel yourself in Iori-san. Not only is that demonic chakra unsettling your poor teammates, but you're likely to cause a mess again."

"Shut up, Ao-ya. The only mess," a snarl curled around my words, "will be _you_."

With a derisive laugh he was gone again and I was able to settle in for some sleep after calming my still roiling emotions.

**= I / O / R / I =**

Once home and debriefed (and waved off when asking what exactly it was we'd retrieved) I'd found myself in my house. I couldn't say home because home is somewhere where you're welcome; somewhere full of love. Since I didn't have that I settled with mutilating my parent's furniture with any weapon I could find.

They just replaced it once it was beyond repair, not a single reprimand sent my way. It was a frustrating thing to deal with at first; I mean, was it wrong that at one point I craved attention from the people you gave me their genetic material?

"Not like they even wanted me in the first place," whether I was speaking to Snowbird or the air, I didn't know, "considering they were willing to sell me to become a monster."

The window at the back side of the room slid open. Two feet thumped to the floor and an oily voice wafted through the air, "At least the little monster knows what exactly she is."

I shifted and turned to face the masked man; he was using a festival mask, seemingly trying to vaguely pass off as one of our ANBU-like operatives. In a flash he was a mere three feet away from me, forcing me to crane my head to stare up at him.

"And what is it Intruder-ya wants?" My eyes caught a hint of blue through the cracks in the man's mask, "I'm quite busy, as you can see."

As his hand flashed up, a kunai in its grip, snow rushed in the window after some intense concentration on my part. The cold form of precipitation encased his arm and stuck his feet to the floor, thus causing an enraged snarl to rip from his lips. His free hand lashed out and my hand holding the kunai I'd been stabbing the furniture with lashed out to skewer his hand, specks of his blood sprinkling my hand.

"Intruder-ya, it's not nice to accost someone in their home." Despite the initial repulsion I felt toward the sticky, red life source, I was fairly apathetic about seeing it at this point.

"You little _bitch_!" A lopsided grimace formed on my face as I saw the glisten of spit peek through a hole in the mask and roll down.

"I'm afraid to inform you, Intruder-ya, that I am not a female dog," I rubbed my fingers speckled with blood together in front of my face, smearing it, "And neither is Snowbird-ya.

"Speaking of Snowbird-ya," I murmured, still eyeing my hand, "Loan me some of your chakra."

'**Why does Iori-ri need my chakra?'**

The man yowled out some more expletives and his arm began to twitch up again.

"Does it matter? _Give it to me_."

'**As you wish.'**

A navy glow encased my right hand, the one dotted with blood. It seemed to boil and brought a smile to my face. One move and –

A piercing scream rang through the house, drowning out the squish of my hand piercing into his chest. Blood splattered across my face and clothes, dotted my hair, and dribbled down my right arm to drip down to the floor. An odd squelching sound came along with its removal from my attacker's chest, my hand covered in the red life source.

"With a shriek and a squeal," my mind dulled as I stared at my bloody hand, my body doing an autonomous turn, "the big bad ninja was blown down."

A muffled, quick paced thumping echoed in the hallway and I sauntered over in enough time to jerk the door open before they could. My parents jerked back, taking in my appearance and what they could see of the man on the floor.

"He thought he could kill me; silly, right?" My garnet eyes trailed up to look indifferently at my so called parents, "Might want to clean up before his blood stains everything."

I squeezed by their still forms, the blood on my arm and hand smearing slightly on my mother's clothes and the excess dripping to the floor as I made for the bathroom.

Only one thought running through the back on my mind as I went:

'_Why did that feel so good?'_

**= I / O / R / I =**  
_"Like most hearts, it was complicated, shaded with dark and dappled with light." __  
_**― ****Kate DiCamillo**

**= I / O / R / I =**

**IMPORTANT: ****In no way is her snow manipulation as strong or useful as Gaara's sand manipulation. It can't cut and it can't crush and it can't be turned to ice. She cannot use it to lift herself into the sky. She can use it to cause severe hypothermia and with enough chakra she can use it to stop someone like in this chapter. It also takes loads of chakra to even give it enough speed to give it the force that destroyed the enemy nin as she did (a lot of her chakra and demonic chakra). Iori can also only use natural snow and can't tote it, like mentioned in the chapter. And by natural that means any snow formed through the use of a jutsu cannot be used by her, even if she's the one who makes the snow.**

Thanks to **Guest** and **drunkhippo** for your reviews, I'm glad you've found this interesting so far.

**M** – Glad you like it! And yeah, Iori is…Iori. She was somewhere around eleven when she died in her first life, so while she's mentally older she's also still childish because she died a child. I really hope she doesn't become a Mary-Sue, as all authors hope. And I'm glad you hate him; I didn't want him to be likeable haha.


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